


Dinner, then Australia

by girlfromthebar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Australia, Draco Malfoy is a Good Boyfriend, Emotions, F/M, Fred Weasley Lives, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter Friendship, Hermione Granger Needs a Hug, Hermione Granger misses her parents, Hook-Up, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Luna Lovegood/Blaise Zabini, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, The Burrow (Harry Potter), ginny weasley - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28631997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlfromthebar/pseuds/girlfromthebar
Summary: Hermione Granger could count on one hand all the times she had been nervous to go visit the Weasley household.And as Hermione straightened her floral print dress and ran her fingers through her curls in front of the bathroom mirror for what felt like the hundredth time as she waited for her boyfriend to finish getting ready, she realized she would have to change her previous statement to say both hands, because she was terrified.She hadn’t meant to let her relationship get this far.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott/Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 132





	Dinner, then Australia

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing; all characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I do not share her views, and all are welcome here.

Hermione Granger could count on one hand all the times she had been nervous to go visit the Weasley household. 

The first was the summer before her fourth year when she was invited to stay at the Burrow before the Quidditch World Cup. It was the first time she had ever slept over at a boy’s house, even though she shared a bedroom with Ginny the whole time. 

The second was the summer before their sixth year. Although the Burrow had come to feel like home, she had come to realize her crush on Ron towards the end of fifth year. She knew she would have to try a lot harder to keep her crush to herself and act normal. 

The third was the day she oblivated her parent’s memory. She had apparated to the front door and spent thirty minutes working up the courage to knock. She was not sure how entering a house with a family of nine would feel after making herself an orphan. 

The fourth was the day she came to break up with Ron after their short sixth-month long relationship. She was nervous that breaking up with him would mean orphaning herself again, only eighteen months after she had the first time. 

She probably should have been nervous the first time she came over officially as Ron’s girlfriend, but in the days after the war, she, like most, was too numb to process many emotions.

The fifth time was the first Sunday dinner she attended a month after the breakup. She was worried it would be awkward and uncomfortable, but after hugs and reassurance from both Molly and Arthur, she knew that they would always be her family, even if she never changed her last name to Weasley. 

As Hermione straightened her floral print dress and ran her fingers through her curls in front of the bathroom mirror for what felt like the hundredth time as she waited for her boyfriend to finish getting ready, she realized she would have to change her previous statement to say both hands, because she was terrified. 

She hadn’t meant to let her relationship get this far. 

It was supposed to be a one night stand. One lonely night and too much fire whiskey after work lead to them leaving a trail of clothes down her hallway and shagging against her bathroom door, too impatient to even make it to the bedroom. 

A month of Friday nights later, she changed their unofficial title to fuck buddies. They started leaving the bar together after all their friends had paired off. They’d go back to one of their flats, have a half dozen orgasms between the two of them, and then during the night the other would leave, both of them waking up alone the next morning. 

At some point, after they stopped sneaking off and doing a walk of shame and started waking up next to each other, she changed their title to friends with benefits. She highly doubted conversations about potion ingredients over breakfast or spending Saturday afternoons reading together on the couch was proper hookup etiquette. But between the engaging conversations and mind-blowing sex, she found herself calling him a friend. 

And then the feelings hit. 

Hermione was stubborn. She didn’t want to admit to herself she wanted more. This was fine. Something temporary. They hadn’t said they were exclusive, but she had just assumed. Six months into their arrangement, they went through their usual Saturday morning routine. Wake up, sex, breakfast, and a debate about whether fresh or dried fluxweed affected a potion’s consistency. He bent down to kiss her goodbye and promised to see her that night at Blaise Zabini and Luna Lovegood’s wedding. 

He kept his promise. 

She saw him at the Zabini wedding. 

He had just forgotten to mention it would be with prim and proper pureblood princess Astoria Greengrass on his arm.

While she saw as green with envy as the girl’s last name, she realized something else. 

She was in love with Draco Malfoy. 

So like anyone does when they realize they’re in love with someone who they can’t have, Hermione, got drunk. Make stupid decisions drunk. Cry out a confession in the hallway to her best friend and his secret boyfriend drunk. Grab Theodore Nott’s tie and pull him down to kiss her drunk. 

Well, she had Theo’s consent and Harry’s permission to use his boyfriend to make Draco jealous, but Draco didn’t know that. 

Moments later, Hermione found herself with a pissed off Draco Malfoy in a janitor’s closet. And somewhere between him screaming about her kissing one of his oldest friends and her drunk crying about him bringing Astoria as his date, he blurted out that he was also in love with her and had only brought Astoria to make her jealous. 

Forgetting a silencing spell, their friends had heard their confessions and the sex that happened in between shelves of bleach and paper towels, loud and clear. 

That was a month ago. Officially, they’d been together for one month. Unofficially, they both knew they were done for after that first night.   
All was well. Then Molly and Arthur Weasley had found out and insisted as her unofficial guardians that they had to meet him since she had never recovered her parent’s memories. 

“Granger? You ready?” Draco asked, stepping into the doorway of her bathroom and dragging her from her thoughts. “Presentable?” 

“Um, yeah. You look nice,” Hermione replied, choosing to pick at her cuticles instead of looking him in his eyes. 

Truth is, he looked more than nice. Catching him dressed as casually as he knew to be in muggle jeans, a tight fighting grey henley, and boat shoes had made her heart skip a beat. But instead of faltering back to its normal rhythm, it had started to race. 

She watched Draco stare at her in the mirror before moving closer. “Hermione, are you okay?” 

“We don’t have to go!” She blurted out without thinking, noticing Draco’s grey eyes open in surprise. “I mean, I think we should talk about this before we go. Let’s be honest, Molly’s going to love you right away and Arthur’s family had hated yours as far back as the families go so he’s going to have a million questions and will at least pretend to like you for my sake and Ginny’s going to go out of her way to embarrass you and Fred and George will spend dinner trying to get us all drunk and filling you in on all the crazy things they did to us growing up and I hate being the center of attention and it’s going to be exhausting and a lot and if we break up then you’ll have gone through all of it for no reason so maybe we just shouldn’t go.” 

She took a sharp inhale as she waited for Draco’s response as he processed her run-on sentence. Finally, he asked, “Hermione, are you breaking up with me?” 

“Oh my gods no,” Hermione said, burying her face in her hands.

“Are you ashamed to be seen with me?” 

She shook her head no, not trusting her voice. 

“Then why shouldn’t we go? I know Molly is like a mother to you all. I know the Malfoy’s and Weasley’s have never gotten along. For every story Ginny’s got, I think I have two from our time together in the last nine months. I found the twin’s pranks funny at school. These people are like your parents, Hermione. This is important to part of our relationship to me.” 

“They’re not my parents!” Hermione blurted out and finally let the tears fall. “They’re trying to do the parent thing and meet my boyfriend but they’re not my parents and I’ll never get to introduce my parents to the man I want to marry.” 

Draco said nothing at first and finally wrapped her in a hug. “Is that what this is all about, sweetheart? Your parents?”   
“It’s what it’s always about, Draco. Every important moment in my life they’re not here because of me,” she sobbed. 

Draco just held her while she cried, having learned that making her see logic while she was this emotional was useless. As her hyperventilating calmed into hiccups, he pulled back from the hug, still keeping her in his arms, but far enough back he could look her in her eyes. 

“Hermione Jean, if I could spend every last galleon in the Malfoy and Black vaults to restore your parent’s memories, I would. I wish that tonight I was walking into the front door of your childhood home and had the opportunity to thank your parents for raising one hell of a woman. Say the word, and we can go move to Australia and buy a house next door to your parents. Have them over for dinner and drinks every weekend, invite them to our wedding, hell, have a couple of kids who call them grandmother and grandfather because we’ll get that close with them. It’s your world, love, I’m just along for the ride as long as you’ll have me, which I think is a while considering you did say you wanted to marry me a few minutes ago.” 

As Draco’s words sank in, he pulled her into another hug. “Thank you,” Hermione whispered, her voice muffled by his shirt. His presence and declaration had calmed all of her nerves about this evening. She knew Draco, like Molly and Arthur, weren’t trying to replace her parents. He kissed the top of her head before letting her go. 

“So, do you want to go over to the Weasley’s now or should we go book a portkey to Australia? Your choice, love.” 

She took his hand in hers and lead him over to the floo. “Dinner, then Australia.” 

They arrived at the Weasley’s and were greeted by too-tight hugs and an overwhelming number of hellos. Just as she suspected, Molly had loved him, Arthur had eyed him carefully, and Ginny and the twins had spent the evening telling embarrassing stories. But Draco had hugged Molly back, offered his hand to Arthur, and joined in with the embarrassing stories. They were the center of everyone’s attention, with Draco’s hand in hers or his arm around her shoulders she had relaxed, not hating it as much as normal. 

Then, being the best friend he is, Harry Potter walked through the front door hand-in-hand with Theo Nott for the first time and stole all the attention 

And Hermione Granger smiled when she realized that she still could count on one hand all the times she had been nervous to go visit the Weasley household.


End file.
